Painting the Host for Mortis Engine/Coven Throne

In the previous post I instructed on a method of painting the Engine and Throne; doing so mostly on the sprue rather than a fully assembled model.  In the case of the Host, this is no exception.  The Host was painted separately of the Engine or Throne and it too was painted on the sprue and in stages of assembly.

The Host...

Initially the Host was airbrushed with white coming down on the tops while the undersides remained black-ish.  Then Vallejo model air pale green was sprayed on, highlighted with Vallejo model air camouflage light green + white.  Beyond the airbrushing, the rest was just what I came up with and felt comfortable doing. 

First wash over the initial airbrushing.

 Bob sprayed a gloss clear coat to help the washes move down into the crevices; that was a neat trick and it worked quite well.  I used a series of washes that we created, the first is like a diluted Scorpion Green.  Do this selectively, notice that I only placed the wash in certain areas and left other places untouched.  That may not seem apparent.

Second wash step.

 This second wash is a blue-green turquoise, it most closely resembles the Hawk Turquoise I suppose.  It is mainly focused around the skeletons and skeletal floating heads, and just beneath the armour of the horse and rider.

Notice where the green-turquoise wash is focused.

 Next, the whole piece is lightly brushed with white from the top down.  I don't go from all angles because I really only want the tops of the clouds and skeletons to be 'white' the underneath can have a green-gray cast from the original airbrushing colors.  As a tip, if your white is misbehaving and it seems streaky or creates ridges keep your brush moist, not WET, MOIST.  You will have to do multiple layers of the white, lightly.  If you attempt to apply too much at once it may streak or run or just glop.  Remember, you can always add paint but you can't take it away as easily.

 Now the metal needs painting.  I just used Chainmail washed with Armour Wash although you could use Badab Black just as well.  Then, where all those holes are in the armour, that's when I used the green-turquoise wash to make it look as if the 'spirit' is oozing out.  I like that magical touch.

The Base...

 This is what I did to the bases since they were just plain old rectangles and GW didn't bother to make any bling to go with the model.  These are plaster moulded rocks with some talus and ballast.  I glued them on, let them dry and painted them in secessions of gray.  That's up to you if you choose to paint them gray or not, some people like brownish rocks.  I like gray because they provide a neutral backdrop for the rest of the piece.

 I think sometimes people go overboard with the bases and they distract from the model.  Meh, to each his own.  When we photographed pottery and sculptures in the art department we always had gray walls, gray pedestals, gray drop cloths...so I keep that in mind...the model is like the artwork and the base is just the display.  It's okay if there is stuff on the base but it shouldn't be overwhelming.  I kinda wish there were a few skulls or a trampled victim underneath or maybe just a fallen shield.  I think that would have been okay.

Apparently, at some point, I lost the other photos that I had of the basing...  I had something that was a little more step-by-step than just these.  After painting the stones Cel-Vinyl Gray 28, I would brush over with Gray 20, then 10, then 5.  Obviously these are progressively lighter shades of gray.  You could accomplish the same effect if you were to add increasing amounts of white to your preferred tone of gray, like Chardon Granite.
When the painting of the stones is accomplished we paint the base an earth colored brown.  I try to avoid painting where the model is going to be glued so that is why you see pencil marks on the black base above.  I just paint around the pencil marks.  After that I put my base flock on, the model is glued to the base, allowed to dry thoroughly, and finally tufts of grass and do-dads are added.

Of course the completed versions of the Coven Throne and the Mortis Engine are more impressive than the individual parts.

Bob added some gloss to the cauldron of blood.

 First we glued the Host to the base and let it dry thoroughly before adding the remaining flock and tufts of grass.  This way there wouldn't be all the weight of the Host + the Throne/Engine pulling on the two contact points of the base.  I was just waiting for it to fall apart; I would have cried.

FYI: These spirits were a super pain to glue on.  They look super cool though and were painted just the same way as the Host was.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below, email or facebook us.  We'll be happy to answer.

With Love, Allison